I’ve watched Speed countless times in the last 25 years, and it took until NOW to realize Annie doesn’t actually say she’s a psychology researcher.
“…relationships that start under intense circumstances never last … I’ve done extensive study on this.”
My head canon is better.
This is the second time Speed has illustrated the gulf between my emotional reactions and those expected from neurotypical people for me. The first involves the bus running into the baby carriage full of cans.
I watched Speed countless times & never thought hard about Annie’s reaction to running over a baby carriage. You get used to not understanding others emotions & stop worrying about it. She was upset & I liked her. That was enough for me.
Then I watched it holding my own baby.
And, oh wow, that moment when the baby carriage goes flying! What an emotional punch!
If you understand that you’re supposed to care about babies…
I think part of why I’ve always loved Speed is that Bullock’s powerful emoting gives me a guide for how I’m supposed to react.
When I was a kid, if I liked a movie, I watched it over and over. In retrospect, I was studying the ones that interested me, trying to learn about how people relate to each other, what they feel, how they behave. Movies are a wonderful guide for that.
I have long felt that I had a head start for getting by as someone with autism, because my mom loved movies so much, provided me with so many, and let me watch them over and over.
Of course, I’ve come to realize, her love of movies likely stems from a similar place.